Flesh-eating disease victim gets bionic hands

ATLANTA — A metro Atlanta woman who lost both hands, her left leg and right foot after contracting a flesh-eating disease has been fitted with bionic hands.

Andy Copeland told the Associated Press on Friday that his 25-year-old daughter, Aimee, is returning to Georgia from Hilliard, Ohio, where she was fitted with a pair of hands with 24 programmable functions that will improve her dexterity.

Copeland, of Snellville, contracted a rare infection called necrotizing fasciitis in May 2012 after falling from a zip line and gashing her leg. She spent two months at the Shepherd Center, a rehabilitation clinic in Atlanta, learning to move, eat and bathe without prosthetics.

Andy Copeland says Aimee recorded videos of her using the hands to pick up a potato chip and cut a cucumber.